We'll Just Blame Piper (For Being Sick in the First Place)
by fluffier432
Summary: Leo finds himself in the engine room of the Argo II. Not all that strange, until he realizes he's-quite characteristically, actually-burning up. (Perhaps in a sick way.) Set sometime in MoA, I guess idk. This is also on Wattpad, and my username is ConstantlyObsessed. It's also on Ao3, and my username is fluffier432 as well.
1. Ugh, Please Don't Let Me Die

**Leo** woke up in the engine room, feeling a little-okay, a _lot_ sick.

"What the…?" he muttered to himself, his voice raspy and weak. He felt, like, _really_ hot, and normally hot was good. But not when you know that Piper had a fever just a few days ago and you already feel sick as a dog.

Leo preferred _not_ being sick for the quest.

...But when did the Fates ever listen to his pleas?

Trying to hoist himself up, the fire-summoner discovered that his muscles (not that he had many anyway) were taking the day off.

Great.

He flopped back down on his stomach with a kinda loud _THUD_ and he was forced to accept his fate as a floor decoration.

* * *

 **Just** as Leo was giving up on staying awake, in case his voice returned so he could call for help, Jason was apparently wondering why the Argo II was suspended in the air, and therefore not moving.

Luckily, Jason knew that Leo most often slept in the engine room, and sought him out there after a brief, fruitless visit to Repair Boy's room.

"Hey, Leo? Watcha dreamin' abou-" Jason, having just opened the door, froze as he spotted Leo from the doorway, still sprawled out on the hard floor.

Hardly conscious. Pale. Barely breathing.

* * *

 **The** moment before Leo blacked out (now that someone had finally come to rescue him), he heard his best friend (and also rescuer) call out Piper's name in desperation and panic.

 _Read my mind, Sparky,_ Leo thought as he slipped into blissful darkness.


	2. Um, Ew

**At** first, Leo thought he was dead.

But then he started to wake, and realized that Bad Boy Supreme was getting another chance.

As he eyes opened, slowly but surely, he discovered he wasn't alone in his sickbay room. Superman, Beauty Queen, and…(Leo realized he couldn't remember a nickname for Hazel) were crowded around, watching him, concerned.

"Uh-" he started to say, but a nasty fit of coughing attacked his throat and lungs before he could continue.

Piper snapped out of her trance first, and swiftly moved to grip Leo's free hand (the one that wasn't preventing spit from flying everywhere).

"OhLeoyou'reawakeIwasgettingsoworriedpleasedon'tevergetsickagain!" she sputtered."

Leo would've laughed at that (of course he'd try not to get sick again), but he wasn't sure he could without vomiting. So he settled for giving a wobbly smile as he felt like he was gonna puke anyway.

"Oh!" Hazel recognized the look on the bedridden boy's face and scurried off to retrieve a bucket.

 _You better be fast, Hazel,_ Leo silently pleaded as he hoped she'd be back in time.

The sounds of retching arrived too soon, and Leo was promptly moved to a different bed (after being cleaned up properly, of course).

In his now very-sick, stressed mind, six-year-old Leo took over and was panicked to see that he'd just thrown up all over the covers. Tears pricked the corners of his eyes and he started mumbling, " _Lo siento, Mamá, lo siento._ " (" _I"m sorry, Mommy, I'm sorry._ ")

* * *

 **Piper's** heart broke when Leo started apologizing. It wasn't his fault he was sick!

"Leo, Leo, shhhh…" Piper cooed, hoping to calm her unrelated little brother.

It seemed to work.

Just then, Hazel slowly entered the room, carrying a bucket, gazing around until her eyes fell on Leo.

* * *

" **Sorry,** Leo. I was much too slow, wasn't I?" Hazel apologized.

She had pieced together that she was too late when she saw that Leo had been transferred.

Finding nearby empty buckets _was_ a bit hard, though.

* * *

 **Returning** to teenager Leo (thanks, Piper), the bedridden boy felt bad for Hazel. He knew where he kept the empty buckets, sure, but not everyone was as weird as him and he doubted they thought to look in the back of the washroom to find them. He hadn't thought of if others wanted to use them.

"It-" Leo's voice came out weak, and he cleared his throat before trying again.

"It's fine, Haze. (No, that wasn't a typo.)Tricky spot to find 'em. Not your fault."Speaking in short sentences like that was pretty un-Leo-like, and he could tell the others noticed, too. He _was_ sick, however. Not that big of a deal.

"Though," the ill teen clutched his stomach, "I could really use it now."

This time, everything was contained in the plastic Home Hardware pail that was found just a bit too late.


	3. Oh Noes, Dreams Suck

**Annabeth** rushed around the Argo II, flinging open and slamming shut the doors of every cabinet on the ship.

Percy followed closely behind, trying to get her to slow down before she broke something.

"You'll give Leo a worse headache with all the noise you're making!"

She finally paused, long enough so Percy could turn her around and kiss her forehead.

Annabeth huffed quietly, but slipped her hand into her boyfriend's.

Then she felt guilty, because she was supposed to be finding medicine for the ship's commander.

"...But he wants medicine, Percy," she said in reply to the earlier comment.

"I'll help you look, then. Leo probably wants to keep the cabinets intact for the quest."

Annabeth chuckled.

"Probably."

Eventually, Percy found some Tylenol under a spare couch cushion in the storeroom.

* * *

 **After** Piper had rushed off to get more demigod help, and Hazel had left to find her boyfriend, Leo fell back asleep with a damp, cool cloth on his forehead.

His dreams only added to his stress.

They were _both_ about his friends, dying.

 _Fever dreams really hit hard on demigods,_ Leo thought bitterly. Children of immortals already had sucky dreams on good nights. Obviously, being sick was no help.

* * *

" _ **Piper!"**_ _Leo called in desperation, not knowing why until he saw it._

 _It was massive._

 _It had a massive sword._

 _There was a hungry look in it's eyes as it swung before Leo had time to react._

* * *

" _ **Oh**_ _Leo," a male voice said in a sickeningly sweet voice, "you're just in time!"_ (Cliché, I know.)

 _Still shaking from the previous nightmare, the Latino was just glad he wasn't too late._

 _Unfortunately, he was "just in time" to watch Jason drown._

 _That seemed a little suspicious to Leo, as usually heroes like himself (and Jason) died...heroically. And in battle or something._

 _In any case, Leo didn't quite like the idea of his best friend's lungs filling up with water._

 _But Jason was encased in a thick glass wall in front of the fire-summoner, the water surrounding him. The flying demigod was banging on the wall, even though that was pointless, holding his breath for as long as he could._

 _Suddenly, Leo had a life-saving thought:_ Hey, glass is meltable!

 _Pressing his hands against the glass wall, Leo's powers worked perfectly and the wall gave way and Jason climbed out and hugged Leo and said, "Leo, you're my hero!"_

 _Haha, no. That didn't happen._

 _Pressing his hands against the glass wall, Leo's flames hardly started before they sputtered out._

 _And then a panicked Leo mimicked a weakened Jason._

 _"Aw, is little Leo having trouble with his curse?" That same voice spoke again. It almost sounded familiar, but Leo couldn't put his non-flaming finger on who it would be._

 _Until a smiling face appeared in the water above Jason (who was starting to pass out due to lack of oxygen)._

 _A thud echoed through the room as the frightened boy tripped over his own feet while scrambling back._

 _"P-Percy?" he asked incredulously._

 _The smile wavered and transformed into a bit of a sneer._

 _"Yeah, sure. Whatever. But look, the puny son of Jupiter is drowning! And in_ my _water, too!"_

 _In more ways than one, this was not like Percy. One, he'd never kill Jason (at least, Leo assumed not); two, just like Leo was talking strange earlier, Percy had a different speech pattern; three, uh, [insert more reasons here]._

 _"Percy, dude, this isn't like you-"_

 _"Not like me? Leo, dear," (wow, the son of the sea god would_ never _call Leo "dear") "you just don't know me."_

 _He would've had a point if Leo had just met the guy. Otherwise, he was pretty easy to read._

 _(At this point, Leo's ADHD told him that this dream was considerably longer than the last, but Leo ignored it.)_

 _"Percy, please, Jason's your-"_

 _Once again, Leo was cut off by a mad-looking not-Percy._

 _"_ Don't _say 'friend'! It is not true!"_

 _Not-Percy's smile returned suddenly, and he gave a booming laugh._

 _"Leo awakens."_

 _Said demigod took one last glance at Jason and gasped. He was lifeless._

* * *

" **...-eo!** Leo!" The ill teen woke to the recently dead's voice and freaked out.

Was that a dream, or did he actually die this time?

"J-Jason? Jason?!" He couldn't see, were his eyes closed? His arms started flailing.

They hit something soft, and an "Ow!" rang out, making Leo stop flapping his arms like a madman.

"Leo, dude, open your eyes." The subtle tone of authority caught said teen's attention.

Leo's eyes fluttered (gracefully) open, and he saw good ole' Jason Grace staring into them, concerned.

* * *

 **Surprisingly,** the younger demigod's eyes filled with tears when he saw Jason.

The son of Jupiter didn't have time to question it, however, as almost instantly the Latino grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him down for a hug. Well, it was more just Leo holding onto Jason like his life depended on it, but soon enough the latter gave a gracious hug back.

Jason realized his friend was mumbling something, and he quieted to listen.

Apparently, Valdez was pretty happy to see him "alive".

...Ah. Bad dreams. That explained the crying out, then.


	4. At Least Now He'll Take the Medicine

**Percy** did not expect anyone to panic when he entered the sickbay.

But lo and behold, as soon as he set his eyes on him, the small bedridden boy started yelling and screaming at him to _GET OUT._

Confused (as per usual), he backed out, careful not to make any sudden movements.

Thank goodness, Jason followed suit (to the many protests of the Latino, but the older assured him that he'd be OK.)

When they reached the hallway, the son of Jupiter turned to Percy.

"Hey man, don't take it to heart. I'm pretty sure he had a nightmare, and judging from the way he just acted, you were probably the bad guy."

"...Oh."

Jason must've noticed the sad look in the son of Poseidon's eyes, and smiled reassuringly.

"I'll talk to him. He'll get over it."

Jason calmly turned back to a still-alarmed Leo Valdez.

* * *

 **He** was muttering Spanish curses when the older demigod walked in.

His forehead was literally on fire, so Jason re-dunked the cloth in the water beside Leo's bed and tentatively doused the flames.

At this, the fire-summoner freaked out.

 _"You-! You're crazy, and evil, and you can't-! LET HIM GO!"_

Jason was taken aback. It seemed Leo was a more than just sick with a fever.

The door opened to announce a frightened Piper.

"What's going on?" she asked her boyfriend over the continuing yells (now including Spanish) of the Latino.

Jason could only shrug meekly.

The couple silently decided to wait and see if their friend would shut up on his own.

* * *

 **Finally,** Leo gave on last shout, " _PERCY, DETENER!_ " (" _PERCY, STOP!_ ") before quieting and checking back into reality.

His eyes found his friends watching him again, except this time there were only Jason and Piper to see.

Jason had figured his best friend had had a nightmare, but _wow._ That must've been some nightmare.

"Piper," the younger teen said, his voice hoarse from all the yelling, "c'mere."

The daughter of Aphrodite obliged, and Leo made a motion to get her at his level before wrapping his arms around her.

A sigh of relief was heard, coming from the small teen, and Piper was released from his hold.

Jason opened his mouth to say something, but a voice from outside beat him to it.

"Can I come in now, Jase?" Of course, it was Percy's.

Leo froze, but nobody noticed.

* * *

 **Jason** agreed to let the waiting demigod in, but when he entered, Piper thought she felt the tension in the room rise.

Her suspicions were confirmed when the poor, sick Latino threw off his covers and scrambled back. Jason's name was called, and said child of Jupiter rushed to the bedside.

And the Spanish yelling came again. It sounded like Leo was accusing Percy of something, but Piper didn't know what.

" _¡Quédate lejos de Jason, ¿oyes ?! ¡Él es tu amigo! ¿Cómo podrías-?_ " (" _You just stay away from Jason, you hear? He's your friend! How could you even—_ ")

"Leo!" Piper couldn't handle it.

"Leo, what the heck? What's wrong?"

He lifted a shaky hand to point at Percy.

"He killed Jason."

* * *

 **Oh,** Leo was scared of Percy...still. That was a bit of a problem, wasn't it?

Yes, yes it was. At least a medium-sized problem, if Jason ever saw one.

Percy, a little insensitive, chuckled.

"He looks OK to me," he told the ship's commander.

Leo studied the son of Poseidon carefully, like he was trying to figure out if a machine would blow up. Apparently, no such explosions were at risk, and the ill demigod relaxed a bit.

"So it _was_ a dream, then…"

"Can you tell us about it?" asked a soft-voiced Piper.

Leo fiddled with his hands, watching them, seemingly with interest.

"Well, there were two, but the first one was simple."

The Latino continued to explain the two dreams.


	5. Just Kiss and Make Up, Boys

**Percy** was unsettled about the fact that _he_ killed Jason. (And that he called Leo "dear", but that wasn't important.)

He'd never hurt the guy, and everyone knew that, but still.

 _At least Leo's sick, so it probably doesn't mean anything. Most likely, that's Leo's mind's reenactment of what happened in Kansas. He knows I love Jason as much as he does._

But despite Leo supposedly forgiving him, he wasn't sure if the Latino completely trusted him, based on the looks he was given.

 _"He'll get over it,"_ the son of Jupiter had said.

And Percy believed that, so he decided to simply wait.

* * *

 **Leo** knew that Percy didn't actually kill Jason, but the ill teen just couldn't look at him right anymore.

After one last accidentally scornful look at the son of Poseidon, the Latino decided he'd had enough and wanted to rest.

...But first, an apology.

The young demigod yawned, a (hopefully) subtle hint he wanted to be left alone.

The trio understood, and one-by-one left so Leo could be alone.

"Percy," the bedridden boy croaked out.

The black-haired teen hesitated, before turning back to Leo, a passively-curious look on his face.

"Hey, man, if you need some time-"  
"I'm sorry, Percy." Said demigod had a slightly sad look on his face.

"Dude, don't worry about it. That nightmare must've really sucked-"

"That's no excuse for _me_ to suck." Leo took a deep breath, feeling a bit nauseous (from the sickness) and nervous (for his relationship with Aquaman).

"I'm-I'm sorry, Percy, for the looks I've been giving you."

"Apology totally accepted, Repair Boy."

Leo grinned, despite having half a mind to reach for that Home Hardware bucket under his bed.

And Percy mirrored that expression, even the paleness after a second, remembering that he was still holding on to that Tylenol

"Yo, remember how you wanted that medicine? Well," Percy awkwardly held it out for the Latino to grab, "here it is. Hope you feel better, Commander Tool Belt."

"Heh. Thanks, Arial."

Leo hesitated.

"So, we good?"

Percy grinned again, a look that made a silent sigh of relief rush over Leo.

"Yeah, man. We good."

 _Hurk!_

Leo's head ducked down while his hand quickly grabbed for the bucket, thankfully reaching it in time.

Jason had a good laugh about _that_ when he heard.

 _ **~End~**_


End file.
